![]() This enhancement is further emphasized by Ian Jones tight bass guitar playing imbuing the late Mr Squire himself. Very uplifting allowing vocal harmonies to soar giving that YES feel to the piece. Into The Light is bright and breezy with a crisp airy acoustic guitar intro. Some great slide guitar supported with powerful keyboard accompaniment allows the piece to flow nicely with the aid of some jiggery pokery to a soft fade. ![]() Steve Evans vocal delivery leans towards the Jon Anderson side of Prog towards the end of this piece which Iinstantly found homely.Īllowing Lisa Fury to demonstrate a little more of the power reserve in her voice Dreams complete with powerful drum patterns moves along at a welcome pace incorporating authority and scale. Lisa Fury excels here with her sweet voice permeating above a low chant. Moving into a more Middle Eastern vibe with some powerful subsonic bangs and drones Dancing In The Afterglow gives out the feel of desert landscapes and the Valley Of The Kings. Ian Simmons is joined here by gifted session guitarist Enrico Pinna who has of course played with Karnataka. However, Chasing The Monsoon have successfully avoided the cast of thousands philosophy and as a consequence sound less “west end Stage production” and more like a band. Of course this kind of cinematic story telling has been done before by the likes of Rob Reed’s Kompendium project. Always a welcome guest Troy infuses a little folk into the music placing the band in slightly Celtic area. Here Troy Donockley adds mood and beauty playing low whistle. Segueing into Circles Of Stone the pace is an altogether more enchanting lilt where keyboard orchestration is among the best I’ve heard anywhere. I wasn’t about to be disappointed though. Apart from Steve Evans singing intro, Lisa Fury adds an ethnic chant which further sets the mood of the album. To add a little atmosphere there are some great Jean Michel Jarre sounds fluttering around the soundscape. Here Ian Simmons sets out his stall with confidence laying down a great blues laden attack though melodic in the extreme. There are ten tracks in all including a wicked intro simply entitled Monsoon. This way I didn’t have to trouble myself with meanings etc. I found myself not hanging on lyrics and reading too much into them, instead accepting the vocals as an instrument. A lot of the songs are based around environmental issues, the state of the planet and i wager mankind too. Sitting down to listen seriously to this album between my speakers I forgot that No Ordinary World isn’t so much an album of individual songs, it is a journey. OK, let’s get the obvious comparisons over with and out of the way shall we? Lovers of Magenta, Karnataka,Mostly Autumn, Rob Reed etc and all subsidiaries thereof may well fall in love with Chasing The Monsoon. Lisa Fury who is definitely a singer I will be keeping an eye on and no stranger to Karnataka fans having loaned her singing talent to the bands The Gathering Light album, and Ian Simmons playing some sumptuous guitar licks. ![]() Steve Evans plays some rather tasty keys and some great vocals. As well as Ian Jones playing bass, acoustic guitar and programming there are some talented folk on here who were totally unknown to me, though i am pleased to say that they aren’t now. The idea behind the project was to do something progressive incorporating strong rhythmic elements, world music and Celtic influence. Chasing The Monsoon are a clutch of rather splendid musicians gathered together to create something equally as splendid in so many ways. The band name also continues Jones interest in India which is where the Karnataka band name came from. At that juncture the project was still very much a work in progress though i have since had the privilege of hearing the master disc and the album is still hot to touch and awaiting release.Ĭhasing The Monsoon was started by Ian Jones and named after a book of the same name by Alexander Frater in which the author writes about his life changing experiences following the monsoon across India. It turns out that the gentleman’s brother in-law is none other than Ian Jones of Karnataka fame. “It’s a project that my brother in-law is working on” i was informed in a lilting Welsh tone. After stating the obvious “I must have this” I of course inquired as to what and who it was. On a recent trip to south Wales to stay with one of my shows listeners who has since become a friend, I was played a piece of music on a very elaborate high end Hi-Fi system that to be frank with you left me stunned.
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